Fluorescence polarization study of the alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complex from Escherichia coli

The lipoic acids of the alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase multienzyme complex from Escherichia coli have been modified with two fluorescent probes, N-(1-pyrenyl)-maleimide and 5-[[[(iodoacetyl)amino]ethyl]amino]-naphthylene-1-sulfonic acid. Time-resolved fluorescence polarization of partially labeled complexes (18-77% inhibition of enzyme activity) reveals a complex depolarization process: one component of the anisotropy is characterized by a rotational correlation time much longer than the time scale of the measurements (less than or equal to 400 ns), reflecting the overall rotation of the complex, while a second component of the anisotropy decays with a rotational correlation time of 320 (+/- 50) ns. This decay is essentially independent of viscosity and is consistent with a model in which the depolarization is due to the dissociation from and rotation of lipoic acids between binding sites on the multienzyme complex. The sum of the rate constants characterizing the association and dissociation with the binding sites is approximately 3 x 10(6) s-1. In addition, approximately 5% of the anisotropy of the N-(1-pyrenyl)maleimide-labeled complex decays with a rotational correlation time of 25 ns; this can be attributed to local motion of the probe. At high extents of N-(1-pyrenyl)maleimide labeling (90-95% inhibition of enzyme activity), the anisotropy decay can be described by a constant term plus a rotational correlation time of about 1 microseconds. The increase in the correlation time probably reflects interactions between pyrene moieties. The N-(1-pyrenyl)maleimide-labeled dihydrolipoyl transsuccinylase core of the multienzyme complex has been isolated, and the anisotropy is constant over the observed time range of 300 ns. This suggests that the native structure is necessary for observation of lipoic acid movement within the complex. Fluorescent-labeled limited trypsin digestion fragments of the alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complex also have been isolated, and anisotropy measurements reveal substantial mobility of the label within the fragments. The time-resolved anisotropy of FAD in the native complex and in the isolated dihydrolipoyl dehydrogenase indicates some rapid local mobility of the FAD (rotational correlation time of 12 ns) that is viscosity independent, as well as a component of the anisotropy that is constant over the 35-ns time scale of the experiments.